What are the important upgrades for a street/track car

[Massive Lee]

I think that all advices pointed toward the same direction. No drilled rotors. Stay with plain or slotted. And get similar type of pads, front and back.

[Kohote]

The ti is a relatively lightweight street car, especially when compared to more modern cars you see on the track. For brakes, I personally would only upgrade the pads and maybe go with stainless steel brake lines. Even if you have done or plan to do a 6 cylinder swap, you will not be reaching huge speeds at the end of the straights. I believe it would be more worthwhile to spend money on suspension and eventually a set of dedicated track tires/wheels.

[M3ti-ish]

if you want improved braking A) buy hawk HPS pads B) buy goodridge SS brake lines C) learning to left foot brake too

[woh]

Ok, I did standard Brembo rotors and upgraded to PBR MetalMaster pads.

I have a set of Bridgestone Potenza G, 225/50 R16 92H tires. Still lots of thread.
What kind of pressure should I be running in the tires?

[thesk8nmidget]

there is a trick you can do
put a little window chalk mark on the sidewall of your tire. (all tires have a little triangle on the sidewall, you'll see it) and start off at like 30 psi then after the first run if the chalk is all rubbed off it needs more pressure if it doesnt rub off at all then it needs less air. takes a little guessing and checking but you will find a happy median.

[mohaughn]

For an autocross I will run my pressure as high as 36 to 38 all of the way around. I just don't see that much of an increase in tire pressure when "hot" at an autocross.

At track events I start at 32 in the front, 34 in the rear.. Then I record where I'm at hot.. Usually end up around 39 to 41. For my kumho MX 39 seemed to be ideal. I'll be really paying attention to my tire temps on Saturday as it will be the first day on direzza Z1s so I really don't know where the pressure should be.

Ideal tire pressure also really depends on the exact tire, and your driving style. Definitely something that you have to play with and find what works right for you.

[thesk8nmidget]

^well said!

[Philly]

I already have a set of UUC ss brake lines waiting to go on, and have decided on some PBR deluxe pads, I just needed to make the right rotor choice. Looks like im going to stick with the blanks for now.

Thanks for the brake info fellas!

[woh]

Thanks all.
I finished one day of the BMW driving class in Pueblo. It was a blast. All went very well.
As for the tire pressure, I had 36psi in front and 34psi in the rear.

[woh]

Today I cleaned up the ti after the track event. The front wheels had lot of brake dust. I assume it is from the upgraded brakes. When cleaning the front wheels I noticed there is no dust shield, but there is one on the rear (or what looks like a dust shield), . The requirements for the BMW driving school is to remove dust shields. That did not come up during the tech inspection.

Question:
1. Does the factory 318ti come with a dust shield on the front?
2. Is the piece of shield metal behind the rear brake disk a dust shield, and should I have removed it for better cooling of brakes at the track?

[tiFreak]

Originally Posted by woh

Question:
1. Does the factory 318ti come with a dust shield on the front?
2. Is the piece of shield metal behind the rear brake disk a dust shield, and should I have removed it for better cooling of brakes at the track?

1. yes it does
2. yes it is, I don't know what kind of performance gains you'd see from removing it though

[Dutch Beeminator]

On auto-X / track preparation: Over here in Holland we used to have a 318ti Cup touring car class, which were faster cars then a race prepped E30 325i. I'm taking my car to the company that used to prep these cars for the cup within a couple of weeks. I'll post up some pictures of a Cup car & the progress on mine if there's interest. They've advised the following:

1. Braded hose brakelines for a more constant brake pedal feel.

2. Brake fluid: DOT 5.1. from any brand. ATE Super Blue is one of the best. Used by Porsche on all factory cars.

3. Uprated pads. For full race ti's: Carbon Lorraine RC6. The very best available. Don't use these on the street, because they will go brittle due to a lack of constant heat. For street use: Ferodo DS 2500 (best) or DS Performance (cheap). DS 3000 or Hawk pads can "squeek" like crazy and will drive you mad.

4. Brake Dics: NO drilled rotors. They will crack and sometimes "explode". OEM ones are mostly used in the Cup. Grooved discs are a good option, if possible get heat treated ones.

5. Wheels and tires: 16 inch OEM wheels (318ti CS) + 205/50/16 tires. They've tested several wheel & tire sizes under similar circumstances (same driver, identical fuel load, same car) This came out fastest. 17 inch wheels with 225 wide tires aren't far off. Anything bigger is not recommended. When using full racing slicks, go for the OEM 15 inch wheels. -

6. Suspension: Coilovers are only really usefull for the real racer which likes to test & tune infinitely. For "arrive & drive" types: get a decent shock + spring combo (Bilstein B12 / B8 + Eibach Pro springs / H&R Cup Kit)

7. X-Braces: These generally create more understeer, which you'd rather should avoid.

You can also remove the dust plates behind the front bumper for more brake cooling or use your foglight holes in the front bumper. Take some vacuum cleaner hoses (or something similar) + a few clamps = brake cooling improvement on a budget.

Biggest gains to be found in 1. Tires 2. Brakes 3. Suspension.

Check also: http://www.bmw-cup.nl/deelnemers. It's all in Dutch, but it can maybe be of inspiration.

Just my $ 0.02

Erik

[thesk8nmidget]

thanks for that link!! is there like a gallery section of their site?